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It’s a Jungle

My gardening experience is limited to what grows best in the Northeast; when it comes to what might grow well in a subtropical climate, I have no idea. That is why, in December, when were down in Anna Maria, we met with Ray Waldin, a landscape designer John recommended.

We talked to Ray in general terms, telling him how we liked palms especially, and how we wanted landscaping that would create a sense of serenity and lushness. We also (obviously) wanted plants that would do well in the warm and humid climate.

It’s been a couple of months, but this morning, finally, we received a potential design. I was really excited to see the plan when I opened the envelope, but as I flipped through its pages, my anticipation waned. I realized I had no idea of whether what I was looking at was good, bad or even ugly. Here are my questions:

How Much?

Granted, in December, we had not discussed budget, as we wanted to give Ray the opportunity to think about what we were asking him to do without any limits.

But, of course, the question of cost was the first thing that came to mind. At this point in the project, money is really tight. So if this plan is $1 million — yes, I exaggerate — it’s going to be much less attractive than if it’s $100 (again, I embellish).

Adonidia Palm. Click here to see photos of other plants that may be used.

Too Few or Too Many Plants?

I know that everything grows faster in Anna Maria’s climate, and that a tiny little plant you bring home from the nursery soon turns into a 12-foot monster. You know those ficus trees that people try to grow as house plants? In Anna Maria, you see them in people’s yards growing 75 feet high and taking up the whole front yard.

The Garden as a Whole

This is the first landscape plan I’ve ever looked at, and I’m having trouble picturing how it will all come together. I think we need Ray to walk us through the space, showing us exactly where each plant will go.

Creating Paths

Paul expressed his distaste for crushed shell, a common Florida walkway cover. He doesn’t like the bright white color or the way shells feel under his feet. So Ray suggested river rock, which seemed appealing. But this plan has river rock paths ribboning the front, back and sides of the house. Is it too much?

Is There Such a Thing as Too Many Palms in Florida?

I told Ray that I love palm trees, and he listened. His plan calls for:

As a Mainer, I’m about the furthest thing from a Floridian. But, I had a lot of landscaping done this summer, as the first year of a multi-year plan for the .138 acre on which sits my little city bungalow. My landscape gardener recommended starting smaller with trees and bushes. She said they grow into the landscape better that way and give more opportunity to tweak and adjust things that don’t work out well. Of course, it also brings down prices to do it this way. You may want to do things all in one fell swoop, but to me, that would be too much, too soon, and not just the money. I like the idea of phases, so that after four or six years, it all looks like it’s been there forever. You didn’t mention the quote for this work, but based on my experience (my first professional landscape work) I’m guessing $12,000 or so. That’s a big chunk to invest before you’ve had a chance to live there and get a sense of what the grounds tell you and what plants speak to you most. I get much more passionate about grounds than I do about houses…

I’m an avid Florida gardener, so here’s my take: I didn’t see many Florida native plants there. You’ll be gone a lot and natives won’t need water or a sprinkler system. I didn’t see any bird-friendly plants or habitat creating plants.

What about growing your own food? Oranges, star fruit, mangoes, bananas, all are just as easy to grow as these ornamentals. Orange blossoms smell heavenly in Feb. We have fresh fruit year round from our yard.

Who’s going to take the coconuts off during hurricane season?

As far as the species they picked: lantanas don’t seem to last more than 2 years, haliconiana are very difficult water hogs, jatrophas are poisonous and (I think those particular) bromeliads are spiny. The white bird of paradise (disappointing flower) and traveler’s palm grow so slowly, your grandkids will be married before they get to a good size.

Do you get storm surges there? If so, there aren’t any salt-tolerant plants in your plan and the whole question will be moot.

I looked at the only plant I recognized, lantana. They seem to be planned for those two hatched areas in front (are those for drainage?? I guess not, since I think lantana are drought tolerant plants.)

If I’m correct in thinking the lot is 50feet wide, those areas are maybe 15×5. Assuming he’s planning small lantanas to start with, like in 2″ wide pots, 32 will give you a good start.

I am puzzled, tho, about why 32 on one side, and 24 on the other. Does he maybe only have a source for larger of whatever color plants he plans on that side?

By the way, lantana spreads quite well, so it should fill into a solid blanket of color in a couple of years.

I can’t say how comfy the river rock will be, but I notice no grass to cut, which has to be a plus. Myself, I might also put stepping stones in the river rock paths at a comfortable distance part.

I do have one plant to recommend. I had my backyard landscaped 2 years ago. One planting is my favorite and I’m fairly certain it is grown in Florida. I have a shrub line of Knock Out Roses. Beautiful, bright color and no muss or fuss. If you are not familiar with them, they are drought resistant, bug resistant, and you don’t have to prune them all the time. I just pruned them back for the first time this weekend because they were too tall. They bloom like crazy. I have fertilized them once. I can vouch that they did well in a drought.
Scroll down on the link for a picture: //www.duesnursery.com/plants.html

Wow, that is a whole mess ‘o pavers! Look at my post of 1/25. I predicted the ‘Y’ shaped driveway.

And you should check the scale on the drawing. If the lot is 70’ wide, the house is shown about 4’ too narrow. If so, the paver contractor can’t really give an accurate price because the driveway isn’t right. I don’t know Florida prices, but that might be a $15K to $20K driveway.

Here’s my suggestion, again, from last November. Now that I finally have the right-of-way dimension, there would actually be 3’ more landscape area than I had shown. Given the choice, I’d much rather spend money on landscaping than driveway. But this all falls on deaf ears anyway.

I’m trying to say something helpful, but that remark about money being tight makes it hard. Pay attention to future maintenance. The loveliest garden can become a nightmare of weeding, mulching, dead heading, and pruning if you choose the wrong initial design.

I echo Damon: xeriscaping is the only moral choice in a water scarce environment. It’s cheaper, too.

River rock is beautiful but it’s about as far from an indigenous material as you can get. There are no rocks on Florida rivers. If you don’t like shell, consider brick — I love the way it looks with moss growing on it and you may be able to manage that by using some of the water created by your air conditioner to keep the brick moist in places close to the ac.

Please consider xeriscaping and native materials both plant and other.

I live in San Diego and grow lots of tropicals and orchids in my garden. Also my mother in law lives in Florida so I’m fairly familiar with the climate and the soil (i.e. – low nutrient sand).

Here are my concerns: If you want a lush look, it will take two or three years of careful maintenance and fertilizer application (barrier island = sand = poor soil), or you will have to add many more plants. Also, there is little zoning with regards to water use. You have many water loving species and these are mixed in with a few drought tolerant species. Expect to have to water virtually all year. To reduce your water and fertilizer bills and to help the plants grow in well you should heavily amend the soil BEFORE planting.

With regards to the plan itself, I find it monotonous and relatively cookie-cutter tropical. In my opinion you have overdone the palms and have too few flowering plants. For example, you do not have a single flowering tree. The giant birds of paradise have large but generally unnoticable flowers (that’s why they are lumped in with the palms). The placement of the travelers palms does not allow you to actually enjoy them except when on the street (and these are much more architectural and striking than the coconut palms you have placed in the prime viewing spot). Also be aware that the species of fishtail palm is suckering and will expand without getting much taller than 14-20′ (but it is a beautiful palm).

Also, you don’t have much in the way of fragrance other than society garlic. There are no jasmines, no gardenias, no honeysuckles, no hedychium gingers, no citrus, none of the fragrant tropicals.

If it were up to me I would create a lush area around the pool (what you have will be pretty lush although its does not have a good intermediate level between the palms and the ground cover). I would then make the rest far more drought tolerant (e.g. reduce the royal palms and add triangle palms, delonix regia – an amazing flowering tree, blakeana species – orchid trees, etc.). I would also add fragrant plants including good citrus (although these need a fair amount of water), jasmines and gardenias.

The front is reasonably drought tolerant but needs something vertical in the beds of lantana. Here, I would add flowering trees. I would also avoid using the foxtail ferns, they tend to overgrow everything and are very unpleasant to cut back.

For the paths, I would go to pavers with a drought tolerant ground cover in between (e.g. creeping thyme).

Based on personal experience – river rock sucks for paths – beds – and everything else we have tried to use it for (and that is putting it mildly). It sinks – gets undermined by normal rain and especially rain from tropical storms and the like – weeds grow through it even when you use weed mat – when stuff falls on it – it is hard to clean – etc. Ditto for pavers. We have some stepping stones – only a few – in our back yard – for a path – and they are ok as long as you’re prepared to dig them up and reset them at least once or twice a year (because they sink too).

May sound like blasphemy – but I recommend using poured concrete walks for heavily traveled areas -and grass for areas where there isn’t much walking. With planting beds along the sides as desired.

FWIW – sounds like way too many palms – trees – for such a small property. I am not familiar with all of the species since we live in north Florida – and we are restricted to cold hardy species – like cabbage palms (the state tree). Also FWIW – if you are looking for landscaping as a means of making the yard private – palms don’t cut it.

I will try to take some pictures tomorrow and post them on my Flickr site and show you what I think has worked for us – and what hasn’t. Robyn

Local native plants are really the best choice in any kind of stressed (e.g., drought, hurricane) area.

I’d suggest you call (or visit) a good local botanical garden. They usually have great info (e.g., plant lists) for local gardeners on what grows well and you can see full size specimens of the plants.

They might even be willing to advise you directly in exchange for the chance to be part of a New York Times blog & get the word out about local plants.

I’m pleased to see no lawn. Good for you. The river rock as a path is not a good solution–they roll around under your feet and they would not come from any Florida rivers. I think pavers are a good-looking solution. I’m not surprised, but there aren’t many native plants in this collection. Your part of Florida receives only 44″ of rain per year on average and most of it is in the five month wet season; so do ask about the drought tolerance of all the plants you choose. Seven months is a long dry period. This is why natives are almost always the best choice.

I’d say you have at least three times too many palms. Royal palms are native, but they are huge 100′ trees–at most you can use three, but not so close to your house. Do you really want coconuts falling on your landscape? The travelers’ palms get messy over the years as they get too big and hacking the fronds leaves big gouges. Skip them–they aren’t a palm, but are related to the bird of paradise. The fishtail palm’s fruits are toxic–poisonous when ingested and can cause burns when touched. Adonidia or Christmas palm is susceptible to lethal yellowing–ask if it’s a problem in your area. I’d suggest a couple more of our native cabbage palms if you really want more palms.

Scheffleras are on most invasive lists, but the dwarf version is less of a problem. Lantanas are also on the invasive plant list, but the yellow version never gets berries so it is less of a problem than the purple variety. Society garlic is, well, a garlic, and its foul order carries several yards.

The native fakahatchee grass is a great choice and you may want more than six bunches. I’d also like to see some native coonties and beach sunflowers as groundcovers instead of the asparagus fern or garlic. You may want to consider some saw palmettos as shrubs with that tropical feel.

This is a mostly green landscape, but when you’re there you can have great container gardens with colorful, showy (and inexpensive) flowers spotted around your pool area and lanai. Go slow with your landscaping; you don’t need to plant everything at once for an instant effect. Ginny

Well, if you want lush, tropical…Xeriscape is not going to give you that effect and FL native plants are generally pretty boring.. with micro or drip irrigation you could reduce your watering, but still keep the lush tropical look.. if you don’t like shell, pea gravel/river gravel or sod is your best bet – you don’t want to create watershed drowning your neighbors property with concrete or all brick – also remember what works in North FL won’t necessarily work in Central FL (speaking of Robyn’s comments)

If Paul thinks crushed shells do not feel good under his feet, wait til he tries to walk on river rock (I am assuming you are talking about the big, fist-sized rocks rather than the smaller river stones). We have neighbors who have the big river rocks as a driveway and it is so uncomfy to walk on unless one is wearing sneakers or other closed shoes. Not good (or stable) at all when wearing flip flops or other sandals.

WOW, that is a LOT of plant material for a very small lot. I would guess that this would be in the many tens of thousands of $$$, including the driveway

Your stairs are steep and protruding from the front of the house. I think a flowering tree with a graceful shape, one that would not get too large (or can be pruned) in the bed at the foot of the stairs would soften their look. It might also fool the eye and possibly make the house appear less looming.

It is hard to buy a beautiful garden as a garden is a constantly evolving entity. If in your shoes, I would try to get the hardscape – the paths, trees and major shrubs in first rather than try to do the whole thing at once. There is no substitute for elbow grease when it comes to gardening and an absent owner is always a complication. Don’t rush into a gardening solution. Use a ground cover that can be removed gradually as you understand what you really want. I move about 20 % of my plants every year. What is beautiful today won’t work next year. That is the nature of the beast, at least in an interesting and alive garden.

I suggest asking the landscape designer how much water this landscape will need, and how much care it will need. If it’s a water-hogging landscape that needs constant care (I have no idea– but it sounds like you don’t either, Alison) then you might want to reconsider. A vacation house garden should be an easy garden unless the homeowners are enthusiastic gardeners.

I’d suggest an orange tree. Fresh orange juice is delicious. A lemon tree is handy for the cook, too. Lemons last on the tree; whenever I need a lemon for cooking, I just go out to the back yard and pick one.

DJ’s unfavorable opinion of native plants is totally unfounded. See the Florida Native Plant Society’s website (www.fnps.org) for lists of plants native to your region. The Association of Florida Native Nurseries’ website (www.afnn.org) provides a list of retail sellers by region of Florida, landscape specialists, and sources for specific plants. Gil Nelson’s book, “Florida’s Best Native Landscape Plants” is a good resource–it lists 200 readily available species. It provides not only their descriptions, but also how to care for them and suggested companion plantings. I have a link to this book on my website //www.transplantedgardener.com.

Again, don’t be in a hurry. While it’s good to have a plan, see how you use the space and get a feel for where and what will work for you. Also, once you start spending a little more time in Florida, take trips to local nurseries, parks, and botanical gardens. Talk to neighbors to see what works well out on your barrier island. Find someone you trust. Whoever came up with this plan has $$ in his eyes. Ginny

I’m appalled at the fact that this post dealing with landscaping did not mention xeriscaping, for a Floridian landscape, on a barrier island no less! What year is this, 1950? The blog should be informing the readers of native Floridian plants that are drought resistant and environmentally beneficial. Most educated and informed people are moving in this direction. I am in Northern NJ and we are ripping out our water hungry bluegrass lawns and replacing them with Eco-lawn this spring. Honestly, this blog is going from disappointing to irresponsible.

If I were A&P I would listen closely to the advice about poisonous plants and berries. Those nonexistent grands will surely be putting everything into their mouths. It is easier, now, to simply select plantings that are not poisonous. Also, low maintenance is GOOD. Otherwise, either you will be out in the hot sun, pruning or deadheading, or you will have to hire a gardener to do it for you.

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They've found an idyllic tiny town in Florida, they've bought a piece of land and now Paul B. Brown and Alison Davis are setting out to build their dream house. How hard can it be, they wonder, even though they live 1,500 miles away, they've never built a home before and they don't know anything about architects, builders, local zoning laws or financing? On this blog for Great Homes, they recount their successes and failures and will chronicle their adventures to come.